Joshua Rocha, 28, admitted to police just hours after the 2022 killing of North Kansas City officer Daniel Vasquez that he decided he was going to shoot as soon as Vasquez started following his car. Prosecutors, who are seeking the death penalty, said “he chose death.”

Joshua Rocha took 48 seconds to deliberately ambush North Kansas City Police Officer Daniel Vasquez during a traffic stop, choosing to kill him before he even reached Rocha’s window, Clay County prosecutors alleged Thursday.

During closing arguments in Rocha’s three-day trial, in which he admitted he murdered Vasquez, prosecutors told the jury that their only question is between first- and second-degree murder.

“He let this man walk to his doom,” assistant prosecuting attorney Robert Sanders said. “Officer Vasquez never h

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